Thriving and inclusive communities

Mayor Avula applauded the passage of RES. 2026-R033, which directs the administration to establish a Trust Policy. A trust policy defines the ways the City of Richmond interacts with the federal government, including clarifying and limiting the ways information is shared between local and federal governments and codifies the City’s existing practice that anyone, regardless of status, is entitled to safety and access to city services.

“I am grateful to Councilmember Nicole Jones’ and many others who have committed to developing the City’s Trust Policy. Many cities around the country have used a Trust Policy to build the level of trust in the way that their government serves immigrant communities. By clearly defining how information is shared and safeguarded, we are reinforcing our commitment to safety and dignity for all of our residents. I look forward to sharing more about the Trust Policy in the coming weeks,” said Mayor Danny Avula.

“This resolution represents meaningful progress in ensuring our immigrant communities feel protected and respected,” said Councilmember Nicole Jones. “The Trust Policy is just the beginning. Mayor Avula and his administration understand that saying we are an inclusive, welcoming city that prioritizes safety isn’t enough. We have to build the infrastructure so that trust can flow freely, nourishing everything we do in the city.”

A thriving and sustainable built environment

Solar ordinances

“I’m disappointed in the outcome of tonight’s actions on the solar ordinances. We had an extraordinary opportunity before us to reduce the City’s long-term energy costs, increase the use of renewable energy, and advance Richmond’s commitment to a more sustainable and resilient built environment through a solar power purchase agreement. We listened to hours of testimony from both experienced subject matter experts and ordinary residents who agreed that our proposal was good for the environment, good for taxpayers, and good for the City of Richmond. It is extremely unfortunate that the majority of Council was not able to find a way to saying yes to this opportunity.

Despite that, it was incredibly inspiring to see so many climate and renewable energy advocates such as the Community Climate Collaborative, Bridging the Gap, the Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, Southside ReLeaf, Virginia Interfaith Power & Light, Climate Changemakers RVA, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and many others come out and support the City’s RVAgreen 250 goals. The future of Richmond is in amazing hands with these advocates like these.

Actions have consequences, and City Council’s action tonight will make it harder to achieve the City's sustainability goals.” — Mayor Danny Avula

Master Plan Amendments

City Council also approved three Mayor Avula-sponsored amendments to Richmond 300: A Guide for Growth Master Plan (“Master Plan”). Together, the amendments bring major citywide planning efforts under Richmond’s Master Plan. They include:

• ORD. 2026-208: The Cultural Heritage Stewardship Plan (CHSP), which establishes goals for identifying, recognizing, and safeguarding the City’s cultural and historic assets.
• ORD. 2026-209: The Richmond Connects Strategic Plan, which creates safer, more equitable multi-modal transportation plans for Richmonders
• ORD. 2026-210: Richmond INSPIRE, the master plan for the City’s parks and recreational spaces, which creates a transparent, community-driven vision for parks and recreational spaces in the City

"These amendments matter because they will become a part of how we evaluate whether policies, city projects, or zoning changes align with the master plan. We have abundant historic and cultural resources in Richmond, and the Cultural Heritage Stewardship Plan will help us identify the cultural resources that we haven't yet documented or recognized for their significance to our community," said Commissioner Burt Pinnock, City of Richmond Planning Commission.

“Richmond has been delivering on its mission to create safer streets for everyone, particularly vulnerable populations. The ability to have a car-lite or car-free lifestyle is a building block of equitable transportation, which is why you’ll continue to see RDOT prioritize access for people walking, using transit, and riding bikes and scooters,” said Andy Boenau, Director, RDOT. “We’re proud to be delivering projects that reflect a thriving city.”

“Richmond INSPIRE gives our community a shared vision for the future of parks, recreation, and public spaces, one shaped by the voices and aspirations of Richmond residents,” said Chris Frelke, Director of Director of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities. “Incorporating INSPIRE into Richmond 300 makes that vision part of how we plan, invest, and build a stronger, more connected Richmond for generations to come."

Thriving Families

Constitutional Amendments

On Council’s passage of RES. 2026-R032, Mayor Avula said, “I am so proud to support this resolution. Richmond is a city for all people, and it is incredibly important that the Constitution of the Commonwealth reflect that. Reproductive freedom, marriage equality, and voting rights for formerly incarcerated Richmonders are essential for dignity and equality.

Richmond voters, like all Virginia residents, will have the opportunity to vote on these three constitutional amendments during the General Election. To learn more, visit https://www.rva.gov/elections/nov-3-election

This weekend, Richmond lost an incredible leader, laborer, and friend. Jim Ukrop’s influence on the greater Richmond community has been profound. At a time when many business leaders found it easier to disengage from the city and its issues, Jim believed deeply in the importance of Richmond, and poured his time, energy, and resources into charting its course for the future.

I spent more than a decade on the Communities In Schools Board with Jim. I got to see firsthand his passion for supporting our school system and investing in our teachers, students, and families. In fact, Jim was one of the very first people to suggest to me that I should consider running for mayor one day—almost 12 years ago! While the idea seemed completely preposterous to me at the time, in this, and so many other things, Jim could often see what others could not. Richmond is a better city for it.

Jim poured himself into countless efforts, always helping open doors for others, and has had a tremendous hand in helping create the growing, vibrant Richmond of today. We celebrate a life well lived, and trust that Jim’s legacy of engagement, generosity, and compassion will inspire the next generation of community leaders in our city.

Hey Richmond, It’s your Mayor, Danny 

As mayor, my primary responsibility is the safety and wellbeing of Richmond Residents. 

As it relates to public safety, there are so many things we have gotten right –  

• community policing 
• neighborhood association partnerships 
• critical incident briefings about officer-involved shootings 
• cracking down on unregulated vape shops through Operation Vaporize 
• double digit reductions in major crimes... 

the list goes on  

Over the last year, the issue of how we use License Plate Reader Technology, and particularly our relationship with a company called Flock has been an increasing issue of public concern, here in Richmond, and across the nation.   

I have been very consistent about saying that our choice to use this technology is because i believe the benefits to public safety outweigh the risks it poses to our community 

But I have also been very consistent about saying that it is not a closed issue, and that I will always remain open to hearing from the people of Richmond on it   

I think the shift in public sentiment around Flock, particularly acute in the last couple of months, requires us to reevaluate our relationship with Flock. 

I don’t know exactly what that looks like right now, but I want to figure that out, together, with Richmonders, with our City Council, and with our partners in the State Legislature.  

I wanted to reassure you all that this is a topic I am thinking about regularly, and share with you a bit about how I'm thinking about this. 

Here are some things I believe:  

I believe that Flock, and automatic license plate reader – or ALPR -  technology in general, is a legitimately useful tool that the Richmond Police Department uses to help keep our communities safe and solve crimes. 

I believe that there are real privacy concerns with both ALPR technology generally and with Flock, Richmond’s current vendor 

I believe, in Richmond, the communities who actually benefit most from this technology are often those who are disproportionately impacted by violent crime. 

I believe that people of color can often be over-policed and over-surveilled. 

I believe that the City of Richmond, and RPD, have been leaders in adopting and following the guardrails set out by the Commonwealth 

I believe that, if we’re going to use this technology, we've got to have the proper guardrails in place, and we must be transparent with the public when those guardrails are violated. 

I believe that at the state level, the Commonwealth of Virginia is an important partner in protecting the privacy of residents. My team and I will continue to advocate for that at the General Assembly this year. 

And I believe this is a complex issue that people feel strongly about across the board. My job is to keep people safe, to listen well to our communities, and to navigate this thoughtfully.  

So here’s what I’m committing to do.  

First, we’re going to review the technology itself and our relationship with Flock. That includes exploring other options and asking whether there are other technology vendors that can provide the public safety benefits we need while better addressing the concerns some Richmonders have raised; we still have another year on the contract so I will need some time on that 

Second, we’re going to listen and learn.  In the coming weeks, I plan to gather resident feedback in a variety of forums. It’s important to me that we hear from a broad cross-section of Richmonders, as well as our elected City Council.  

Third, we will take another look at our oversight and transparency, including whether an independent third party should come in and look at our current policies and procedures.  

Fourth, effective immediately, I am directing that RPD reduce their ALPR data retention policy from its current 21 days down to 7 days. 

What I hear and learn in this listening process will inform our path forward.   

Appreciate you all taking the time to listen to this, more to come soon.   

The project is expected to generate renewable electricity for municipal operations and reduce the amount of electricity the City purchases from Dominion Energy. Based on preliminary projections, the installations are anticipated to produce approximately 7.75 GWh (7,750,000 kWh) annually and result in an estimated net energy costs savings of $19.4 million over 25 years. Final savings will depend on the engineered system design and the future pace of utility rate increases. 

“As a father, a pediatrician, and Mayor, I believe our local government has a responsibility to build a more sustainable Richmond for generations to come. I’m excited for the practical way this program helps us do our part to address the climate crisis, lower our energy costs, and be smart with taxpayer dollars. The due diligence that we've put into building this out over the past few months will be worth it," said Mayor Danny Avula. 

In addition to projected energy savings, the proposal supports the City’s broader efforts to improve the performance and resilience of its facilities. Investing in renewable energy at City-owned buildings can help reduce exposure to changing energy costs while demonstrating how municipal infrastructure can support long-term environmental and fiscal goals.

Aligning with Pillar 6 of the Mayor’s Action Plan (MAP), “A thriving and sustainable built environment planned for future generations” the proposed ordinances provide meaningful ways to support a more sustainable, resilient, and forward-looking city.

“This introduction represents a major milestone in the complex balance between lowering energy costs and ensuring appropriate protections for the City from unnecessary risks and liability,” said Chief Administrative Officer Odie Donald II. “This legislation represents significant reduction in costs that would’ve ultimately been passed along to residents, as it offers us an opportunity to make strides toward our sustainability goals, while also giving us new grounds to demonstrate our commitment to continuous quality improvement.” 

The proposed ordinances also advance the goals of RVAgreen 2050, Richmond’s Climate Equity Action Plan, which establishes targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030 and achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The plan identifies buildings and energy as a key pathway for improving energy efficiency, performance, and resilience.

“Exploring the installation of solar panels on these city-owned buildings represents an important opportunity to advance Richmond’s sustainability goals while taking a thoughtful look at the long-term value of our public assets, said Laura Thomas, Director of the Office of Sustainability. “By evaluating how renewable energy can be incorporated into our facilities, we can identify opportunities to reduce energy costs, strengthen resilience, create local clean energy jobs, and support a more sustainable future for our city. This potential project reflects our commitment to finding innovative solutions that benefit Richmond residents for years to come.”

The proposed installations remain subject to City Council consideration and approval, as applicable. Additional project details, including final site assessments, system capacity, implementation timelines, contracting arrangements, and projected financial savings, will be provided as the ordinance advances.

Moderator: When Run Richmond comes around every year, people ask “Why Richmond?” Why do you feel that Richmond is the place for this run, and why does it bring people together in a way that may not happen in other spaces? 

Mayor Avula: You can't tell the story of Virginia, of America, of Blackness in this country without coming through Richmond. There's a harsh reality of the place that Richmond has in history. This effort of Run Richmond 16.19 has to be anchored in the reality of that history. There is something special about being in those spaces, about actually walking and running through these places of history, where horrific things happened, but also amazing things happened. Being able to touch and feel and smell those things is important, as we build our memory and build our vision of where Richmond and our country are heading in the future. Richmond has a very unique place in that history  

Moderator: I want to go deeper on something the Mayor just said around our responsibility in telling these stories, and the responsibility of Richmond. Richmond carries some of the most painful chapters of American history, alongside extraordinary stories of Black achievement and resistance. What responsibility does the city have to tell that full story? 

Mayor Avula: I don't think we can achieve true healing and true forward progress without being honest about the fullness of our history. We need to delve in and make sure that people know that history so that we can then move forward. The reality is that today, we still see the trappings of that history. In 2026, we still see significant disparities in health outcomes for Black Americans and in wealth accumulation for Black Americans. We see rampant residential racial segregation in our neighborhoods across the city and across the country. Those are all a result of intentional policies and practices that have been layered on for years and years in the history of our country. Our responsibility is to make sure that we know that story, that we're telling that story, and that we're translating that knowledge into the active untangling and dismantling of policies and practices that have gotten us where we are. 

Moderator: What does it take for a city to turn history into a living community experience rather than something we simply commemorate? We keep hearing this word ‘commemoration,’ but how do we get beyond simple commemoration?  

Mayor Avula: It takes events like Run Richmond 16.19. It takes these communal events that bring people, not just from Richmond, but from all over this country, together to be exposed to and to learn this history together. It takes the actual physicality of the race and walking through neighborhoods and walking through history to take in the power of what happened here. It takes cultural institutions, like BHMVA, to continue uplifting and telling those stories, to be able to weave the public narrative, the narrative arc of Virginia history and of Black history. In our strategic plan, we have seven pillars. The seventh pillar is we want to be a city that tells its stories. The importance of that storytelling, the importance of uplifting examples of incredible resistance, resilience, excellence, is healing. It is knowing where we come from to know where we're going. It is healing the atrocities of our past. 
 

A huge part of my job over my time as a public health doctor was really looking at the health and well-being of communities, looking at why it is that certain communities have longer life expectancies or higher rates of hypertension and diabetes. As you start to peel back the layers of what contributes to those disparate outcomes, it is our history. It is the redlining and why certain neighborhoods were inaccessible to Black folks. It is the adoption of a racialized zoning code back in the 1920s.
Richmond was the second city in America, second only to Baltimore, that actually had explicit language in its residential zoning code saying that Black people cannot live in these neighborhoods. We have a lot of work to do today to fix that history and to unwind that zoning code. That's why the 7th pillar of telling our stories keeps it in the consciousness of our community, so that we know we have policies to solve.
We have investments we need to make. We have work in neighborhoods that still needs to be done because we haven’t solved this. 

Moderator: I’m going back to commemoration. I want to spend some time on the 250th anniversary of our nation. I want us to connect what feeling you want the runners to get out of it this year, specifically as we commemorate the 250th anniversary. If you could sum it up in one word, what do you want the runners to feel this year? As people are coming into Richmond specifically, what do you want them to feel? 

Mayor Avula: I want them to feel the groans of history. I want them to feel hope for the future. My greatest aspiration for this city, and I think events like this really help us move there, is that we are somehow able to participate in the redemption of Richmond’s story. I hope that the history of being the capital of the Confederacy, of being the birthplace of the domestic slave trade in this country, of hundreds of years of oppression, has given birth to amazing regenerative things. I think the story of Virginia Union is probably one of the best examples of that. The fact that Lumpkin slave jail, one of the most brutal slave jails in our country, where thousands of enslaved people came through and were brutalized on their way to being sold and sent further south. That slave owner, Robert Lumpkin, married a Black woman, Mary Lumpkin, one of his slaves. When he died, that property went to her. She had befriended a pastor in town and said, “let's do something good with this,” and she started leasing it to him. That was the origin of the seminary that became Virginia Union University. I think that story is such a vivid example of how this horrific place could be redeemed for a beautiful addition to our community and something that has deep history and significance, not just in Richmond, but across the country. My hope is that Richmond follows that arc, that it would become a place that is known internationally as a place of hope and healing.  

Moderator: Five years from now, what do you hope Run Richmond 16.19 will have changed here in Richmond, and how people have engaged in Black history or how people feel connected to Black history? 

Mayor Avula: Djimon often talks about this race, and this city, as a place of pilgrimage. Sesha mentioned that one in four African Americans can trace their history back to Richmond. It really does have a unique place in this country's history. My hope is that 5 years from now, that this event and this place have gotten so much national and international attention that people see this as a pilgrimage, as a way to come back and to know their story. I think that's true for Black Americans, but I'm not Black, and I care deeply about the city, about the story. Some of that comes from growing up as an immigrant kid and feeling othered. It comes also from learning the story of our country and realizing how intentional and terrible our history has been for Black people in this country. It comes from this fundamental belief that the tapestry of humanity is not an accident. I really believe our creator did this with intention, with hope, with a nod to the beauty of what humanity can be. As Djimon talks about reconciliation, that is what I hope for this race, for the city, and for our country in 5 years, that this is a place of healing, a place of pilgrimage, and a place of acknowledging the beauty that is humanity.